24th Birthday 24 Hour Wake-A-Thon
by miguelisasir
Summary: Even at 23-going-on-24, Sonic is much the same hedgehog his friends know and love. Unfortunately that also means he is still stubborn, proud, and utterly unsure of what else he wants to do in the future. Because running can only take you so far in life, especially if you've been awake for 24 hours straight.


**A/N: Happy birthday to everyone's favorite blue pincushion, and everyone's favorite genius egg! Super-Sonic-sorry I'm late, but here's a little tribute to Sonic (and by extension, The Good Doctor) on their anniversary. This is set in a college AU because...reasons. The 'hog's 24, there's a possibility that he'd go to college right? Well, hope you enjoy anyway! *Rolls away into the sunset.**

* * *

Sonic huffed slightly as he slowed down to a gentle walk, sucking in the crisp, soothing night air.

Though it was nearing midnight, the university campus was still abuzz with activity. There had been a soccer match at the stadium just half an hour ago, and people were still hanging around or just starting to go home. Not that the blue hedgehog minded, however.

All he could think about was staying awake for just a few more minutes. It would have been so much easier to do, had he been accompanied by someone. Even _Amy_ would have been welcome company at this point. Mysteriously however, none of his friends seemed to have been at the game, save for Knuckles, who was playing out on the pitch. Weirdly though, afterwards, he too was nowhere to be seen.

Sonic couldn't dwell much on anything, however, as his tired mind simply wasn't sharp or energized enough to do so. He yawned. His almost-24 hours of absolutely no sleep had taken its toll, even on the usually energetic hedgehog.

He thought back to the dare that Silver had made him do in what felt like an eternity ago; to stay awake for at least 24 hours straight, until he turned 24.

Stupidly enough, being the stubborn, proud idiot he was, he accepted.

He bought himself a chilidog, more as something to do to keep him awake, if for just a little bit, than to satisfy his hunger. The vendor took note of Sonic's tired demeanor and slightly bloodshot eyes, but refrained from asking. She had seen _way_ too many of these college kids look exactly the same, and knew better than to ask.

Sonic was thankful for that, and munched on his chilidog as he walked back to his dorm, where hopefully, Tails' little mess from earlier had been cleared up. As if on cue, his phone chimed. A text message from the fox.

 _'I've cleaned up the accident from earlier. You may come in now,'_ the text read.

 _'grate. omw,'_ the hedgehog replied.

 _'You know you misspelled "great," right?'_

 _'tired n lazy sue me.'_

 _'Whatever. Just come back.'_

 _'k'_

Sonic put away his phone, not bothering to check Tails' reply, for he _knew_ that he had asked about potassium.

 _Nerd,_ he thought, smirking.

Sonic sighed. It had been years since he and some of his friends had started at the university, and he considered himself extremely lucky that he even went to the same school as them. Lately, however, everyone seemed to have been bogged down by classes and jobs and various other things to properly spend time together. Even hanging out with _Tails_ was becoming a rare occurence these days, even if they had shared a dorm ever since they started. However, with Tails already pursuing his own PhD., it was understandable that even the genius fox-boy should be so busy.

As for him? The only reason he ever even _considered_ going to college was because of the massive scholarships from his time on the high school track  & field team. He took a few classes here and there, learned a few things, but he had never made up his mind about what else he'd like to do. The only thing he did fully determinedly was running. And even _that_ could only metaphorically get you so far in life.

Sonic huffed again as he reached his dorm. He was too young, too tired, and too apathetic to be thinking about all of these things. So, as he heard his watch beep to officially announce the end of Silver's dare, he turned the doorknob, hoping to just get in, flop straight onto his bed, and sleep deeper than he had ever slept in his life.

All notion of crawling into bed was shattered however, as the moment Sonic turned on the lights was the moment he was...not so much greeted as much as he was _bombarded_ by a unanimous chorus of " ** _SURPRISE!_** "

The poor hedgehog had jumped ten feet out of his own skin before he realized the crowd whose yells had blown him to the moon.

Shadow was, rather reluctantly, blowing a paper tongue, while wearing a conical party hat. Sonic struggled to refrain from laughing at the black hedgehog's irate expression.

Rouge had almost fired a confetti cannon playfully into her agitated boyfriend's face.

Blaze stood with a small smile on her face as she lit the candles on the cake that Tails held.

Silver was clapping his hands as he gestured to the clock.

Knuckles was still in his soccer jersey, complete with his sweat from the game and, by the looks of it, was _still_ sweating into.

Amy was bouncing up and down, unlike Shadow, and was decked out in not only her onesie, but also a party hat and tongue, like Shadow.

Even Vanilla, Cream and the Chaotix were there!

And in the center of it all, there was Tails, holding a birthday cake the size of the hedgehog's head, and funnily enough, in its shape as well.

" ** _Happy birthday, Sonic!_** " they all yelled.

Sonic couldn't stop the tear forming in his eye. Though that tear was quickly wiped away.

"Oh Sonic! Happy birthday!" Amy exclaimed, silently calling first dibs on hugging the tired hedgehog.

Sonic blushed...though it was more from lack of air than anything.

"Amy, heh...can't... _breathe_..."

"Oops, sorry!"

"Congrats on popping out of the womb today, Blue," came the jersey-clad Knuckles, wrapping an arm around the other as he placed a party hat onto Sonic's head; intentionally snapping the rubber onto his chin.

Sonic threw a playful punch at the echidna, and proceeded to hug him and everyone else.

"Thanks you guys, for all this. That was a real surprise," he said.

"So you were actually surprised?" inquired Tails.

The blue hedgehog replied, without any hesitation, "Of course it was! To be honest, it was more _shock_ than surprise, but hey, garlic and onions."

"I think you mean toma(y)to, toma(h)to," Silver said, brow raised and with a smirk on his face.

"Jerk, I'm tired...and because of you, if I'm honest."

"Hey, all part of the plan."

"You guys have been planning this since when?"

"A few days," grunted Shadow. "Pain in the ass, but Rouge made me do it.

"Oh don't believe Mr. Grumpy Quills. He was as excited about it as everyone else was," Rouge retorted.

Shadow blushed but said nothing else.

"Well now, let's not sit here waiting for the candles to melt, let's sing!" Came Charmy, who Sonic thought was itching more to eat the cake than to get the candle-blowing over with.

Sonic waved his fingers around as if conducting all of his friends-Shadow included-as they sang him a happy birthday. It was awkward, but frankly, he was too tired and happy to care.

He blew out all 24 candles on the cake to a round of hearty applause.

"So, what'd you wish for, Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked, still polite as ever.

Sonic patted her head and replied, "For more chilidogs to come my way, of course."

But Sonic sat down on the crowded bed and smiled to himself. _And for all of us to remain friends for the rest of our lives. Yeah. That's a nice wish. Shouldn't say it out loud though. Might not come true if I do._

Sonic's eyes began to shut and he began drifting off to sleep...until Knuckles decided to smear a good chunk of cake onto his face, to uproarious laughter, mainly from the other boys.

After wiping cake off of himself and eating a slice properly, Sonic could see how tired everyone else was, and proposed that everyone go to bed. Somewhat reluctantly, the others agreed.

So, after filing out one by one, each giving a gift and a card on their way, Sonic and Tails plopped into their own beds, Tails already in his pyjamas by the time the little party started, and Sonic still fully dressed.

Before he let sleep finally take over, however, he groaned groggily, "Thanks, for the party lil' bro. How'd you guys manage to find time for all this?"

"Well, it's your birthday! You've done such great things for all of us. So _of course_ we wouldn't miss it for the world. Not even Shadow," the fox replied.

"Heh, glad to know I'm _that_ important."

"Don't get cocky," Tails remarked. "'Night Sonic. Happy-" the fox paused as he yawned, "birthday."

Sonic muttered a thanks, even as he heard soft snoring from Tails' bed.

He sighed in content. _Even if I never decide what I want to do with my life, as long as I have these people with me, I know that no matter what happens, no matter how seldom I get to see them, I know I'll be okay,_ he thought; until, with a smile, he too drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The man grumbled as he stooped to pick up his fallen stack of papers.

It was then that he noticed an envelope wedged in between a pile of Chemistry work that he still needed to mark.

Much to his surprise, the envelope was addressed to him. Even more surprisingly, it was a birthday card.

 _Dear Professor Ivo Robotnik,_

 _I overheard you the other day talking about how your birthday was the same as mine, and I kinda wanted to do something for it. Sadly, I don't exactly know your schedule, and breaking out into a party in class is too awkward, so I and a couple of my friends decided to send you this. We know it isn't much, but we really do hope you have a good birthday._

 _Cheers!_

Professor Ivo gasped at the number of signatures on the card, almost all with an extra little message. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop smiling. He struggled to keep from tearing up as well.

He walked with an extra spring in his step that day, bolstered by the fact that his students cared about him enough to acknowledge his birthday, even if he wasn't the most popular professor on campus.

* * *

 **A/N: Happy birthday again, Sonic and Doctor Eggman/Professor Robotnik. Obviously I don't own you, because this is fanfiction, and I am not SEGA, who does.**


End file.
